Vietnam era M65

A very clean VN era M65 I picked up recently.







rip....

Hi Rip
Some nice pieces you have posted recently I used to have one of those olive VN eara M65 jackets badged with 101 abn I used to wear back in the 80's
Graham

Love M65s of all colours and countries,a timeless classic and have a few nice Nam ones myself including what I am led to believe is a rare version without eppaulettes.

Thanks guys,

M65s are probably as close to perfect as a field coat can be.

And so many variations....

rip....

Hah! Sorry about the last comment. I spoke ill of the '65 in favour of the '51. Oh well. We all have our particulars.

Love them all,The 43,50 and 51 but the 65 is my all time favourite.

How do you guys feel about the USAF permutation? I want to say that is was intermediate-- from like... '57, or thereabout, and had a woolen liner. I had one that was too small, so I gave it to my little brother and thus, cannot refer to it right now, but I remember liking how it fit in between the two Army variants, as far as styling goes.

Rip, do you have one?

No idea what type that is but certainly dont like the USAF one with the huge collar thats for sure.

Yeah, I think it had a huge collar. Big, round one? Not pointy...

I almost got an USAF field coat awhile back, but somehow lost track of it and it went to another bidder...

They are pretty cool, and I do like the 4 patch type pockets, and the cut as a whole.

Love the M51s, and think they may be marginally nicer than the M65s, but there is no denying that M65s are  overall  pretty much  the best field coats ever made.

rip....

Well said.

You know... after my rather dismal statement of opinion, I realized that my Norwegian field jacket is a '65 (basically-- pointy collar, notwithstanding) and it's my personal favourite. I retract what I said before. The design of the '65 is universally more appealing, and shows up everywhere.

sh4pak wrote:Well said.

You know... after my rather dismal statement of opinion, I realized that my Norwegian field jacket is a '65 (basically-- pointy collar, notwithstanding) and it's my personal favourite. I retract what I said before. The design of the '65 is universally more appealing, and shows up everywhere.

Cammo one?

They made an exact copy of the WW2 M43s which are superb jackets also,used to be very common and cheap here in the UK but not so much now.

Yep. The very one.

Had no idea they made a '43 clone. Thanks for the info-- it's good to know what to look out for.

The M43s are amazing and the 5 or 6 I have had over the years varied in colours from OD to a brownish shade.

Apart from the main Actors in Band Of Brothers most if not all the other M43s seen were ex Norgi and LOADS were available after filming(think somewhere I have 2 pairs of the ex BOB Norgi trs but alas no jackets).

Decent AND real M43s are not so easy to find anymore.

M65s have been cloned for years, so, no surprise that M43s are being replicated.

Guess replication is the ultimate compliment ....


rip....

I found a mint unissued OG Vietnam M65 size large , no insignia

Very cool to find one of those in such conditions..Great luck.

Have seen more than a  few vintage m65s destroyed by ignoramuses who incorrectly patch them to get a few more bucks out of them...

Most of the time, it is pretty obvious....

Beware.... 

rip.... 

Posted these elsewhere, but they belong here as well.  Love those old M65s

rip....

the M65 Field coat makes a nice casual outdoors jacket , the pockets are very useful

sometimes I wear mine when Im walking along a coastal trail or beach

I was issued the old Vietnam OG M65 Field Coat , it's my favorite casual outdoors jacket

by the mid 1980's they were phased out